Self-indicating target



A. M I CHOUD. SELF INDICATING TARGET, vAPPLICATION FILED JAN. 28. I914..RENEWED MAY 9,1918.

Patented Jan. 3, 1922.

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A. MICHOUD.

SELF INDICATING TARGET. APPLICATION man mu. 2a. 1914. RENEWED MAY9.191s.

1,402,523, Patented Jafi. 3,1922.

' s SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A. MICHOUD.

SELF INDICATING TARGET. APPLICATION FILED JAN128, 1914. RENEWED MAY9,1918.

Patented Jan. 3, 1922.

A. MICHOUD.

sm mmcmme TARGET. APPLICATION vFILED JAN. 28.1914- RENEWED MAY 911918-1,4:O2,523. i Patented Jan. 3, 1922., v

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

A. mcuoun. SELF INDICA-TING TARGET! APPLICATION FILED 1AN.'2 8, I914-RENE WED MAY 9.1918.

5' SHEETS -SHEET 5.

UNITED. STATES ATENT OFFICE."

ARNOLD MICHOUD, OF YVERDON, SWITZERLAND.

snnr-rnnrosrrne TARGET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented an. 3, 1922.

Application filed January 28, 1914, Serial No. 814,873. Renewed May 9,1918. Serial No. 233,480%. (GRANTED UNDER THE PRUVISIONS OF THE ACTOFMARCH 3, 1921, 41 STAT. Ii.,13 13.)

To all whom'it may concern.

Be it known that I, ARNOLD Mror-Io n, electrician, a citizen ofSwitzerland, residing at Yverdon, Canton of Vaud, in the Confederationof Switzerland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSelf-Indicating Targets, (for which I have filed applications inSwitzerland February 1, 1913, and November 8. 1913, and in Germany Oct.-27, 1913,) of which the following is a specification. A

My invention relates to improvements in self-indicating targets,composed of a number of elements, concentric discs or rings, or

both, which are provided. one for each sec tor and each disc or ring,with contact apparatus made with a contact pin striking against apendulum suspended at the targets frame-work and causing contact, toopen a current from a source of electricity. The currents thus openedare transmitted to an indicating board at the shooters stand, wherediscs will appear behind windows, said discs being attachedjto leversworked by electromagnets and showing the sector or the elementof thetarget which has been hit by a bullet.

In the following specification reference will be had to targets composedof several elements, but it is evident that the features common to myinvention may quite as well be employed to targets formed onlyof oneelement, for instance to targets representing upright or kneeling men.

I attainthe object of my invention by the arrangement of partsillustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figs. 1 to 4 refer to aform of a target composed of four elements, shaped like discs and Figs.5 to 7 to a target composed of five element's shaped like rings and acenter disc andhFigs. 8 to 12 to the electrical connections andaccessories.

Fig. 1 represents a vertical section on the center line of a target madeof concentric discs, Fig. .2 is a front elevation of a target, and Figs.3 and 4 areside and front elevations of a contact apparatus.

, Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a target made of five concentric rings,Fig. 6 an enlarged sectionthereof on line AB,' Fig. 5 and Fig. 7 a sideelevation and partial section of a contact apparatus. Fig. 8 is a frontview of a board indicating at the shooting place the hits made on thetarget 1 Figs. 9 and 10 are front andside elevations of one of theelectromagnets used in the board shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 11 is adiagrammatic view of the electrical connections 1n general and F ig. 12a diagrammatic view of the electrical connections necessary for avoidingcertain irregularities in working the indicating board. 1

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the severalviews. 1

According to Figs. 1 to 4 a target composed of'three concentric discs1,2 and 3, which, being mounted on a flanged. sleeve A, are separatedfrom each other by washs ers A made of wood or rubber, and kept tightlytogether by a screw nut A These members are bolted'by theflanged part ofthe sleeve against the outside of the back wall of a frame work orcaseA'made of strong sheet iron. By this =n1anner of mounting the discswill be free to make a small shaking movement, whenever they are struckby a projectile.

A fourth disc 4 formingthe center part of the target and set in front ofthe three other discs, is supported by the one endof a pin 0*, which isloosely fitted within the Figs. 3 and 4. This preferably consists of abar f fixed vertically and cross-wise to said pin and of a pendulum withweight g and lever g linked at f to the upper slotted part of thecrossbar f and resting by means of the weight 9 against a plate fsecured at the bottom part of the cross bar. Between this plate and thebar and electrically insulated from bothtwo springy strips hflh aresecured and extend upwards on both sides of the pendulum, so as to makecontact with it, whenever the pendulum'moves outwardly, by means of across pin 9 fixed at the upper part of the same, said pin restingotherfor each disc at the same distance cause the weight g to moveoutwardly; and will therefore momentarily bring the pin 9 into contactwith the two strips h .h

In a similar way the other three discs 1, 2, 3 are provided with meansfor causing electrical contacts when projectiles strike against thetarget.

There are in all twelve pins 6 e 6 four 7 for each of the threediscs,lodged with some through appreciably larger holes providedtherefor in the inner'discs.

inside of case Aeach pin carries at its back end a contact apparatussolidly attached to it, of the same construction as-the one describedforpin 6 and as represented in Figs. 3 and 4. The pinsare distributed ontwo axes a-cl and 6+0, set crosswise at to the horizon, alway with thefour pins from its center, as shown in Fig. 2. V

Instead of having a target composed of concentric discs a target might"also be formed of concentric rings according to Figs. 5 and 6 for fiveelements, four rings 1, 2, 3 and 4 and a center disc 5. V v

The rings are fastened to the outer wall of the double back wall ofcaseA by means of bolts 6 each having washers of yielding material A Ainserted between the ring and the wall and between the nut and the wall.

The rings 1, 2, 3 and 4 are arranged in two 7 distance from the wall ofcase A are all proprojection e of smaller diameter passesthrough a holein the inner back wall of case .A. and bears with its faced end againsta weight g of a pendulum g which is part of s a contact apparatus fixedagainst the inside of the inner back wall of case A.

The mechanic'al'contacts for the rings 1,

2,3 and 4 are made in a like manner, as has been explained for the discswith reference to F lgs. 1' and 2,,by means of pins 6 ,6 6 a There arealso four pins foreachdi'sc which are distributed on two crosswise axesczcl and Z)0 as represented in F ig; 5.

These pins however according to Fig. 6extend through both back walls ofcase A and bear with faced ends against weights 9 of contact. apparatus,which are fixed against the inner side of the inner back wall, and arethereby'better protected against dirt and fragments of projectiles. V

It will be noticed that in this structure, the contact apparatus is notattached to a movable part as are the contact pins shown in Figs. 1, 3and 4, but is fixed to thestationary wall of the case A. and thattherefore this apparatus is very sensitive As seen in Fig. 7 it mainlyconsistsof a piece of sheet iron fixed perpendicularly to the inside'ofthe inner back wall of case A, whereon a pendulum g, g is suspended atif, and two studs 70 73 are secured. One stud k carries an adjustablecontact-screw 72, and the other stud ic is electrically insulated fromthe sheet iron K and carries a v,springy metal strip 7L1, which is setin such dulum g, g to move outwardly, the latter will strike against'thestrip h andwill simultaneously make an electrical contact by pushing thestrip k against the contact screw 71 'The aim of the abovedescribeddistribu-' tion and arrangement of pins is to have the target,*as awhole, divided in eight sectors, similar to those shown in the view ofthe target, which is drawn on asmall scale 011 the indicating board inFig. 8.

Due to the sensitiveness of the contact devices the motion imparted toany disc orv ring uponbeing hit by a bullet or projectile causes allhits at the target in one of the sectors corresponding to those on theindicating board, marked with A,'B, C and D in Fig. 8, to makeelectrical contact by means of those contact devices only, which areplaced behind the corresponding sectors of the tar-' get; whereas allhits at the four intermediate sectors will so move thefdiscs or rings asto make'two simultaneous electrical contacts in" the contact devicesplaced behind both adjacent sectors. 1 P

in order to afford easy means for marking on an indicating board at theshooting place, the hits made, four windows are cut out within'thesectors placed at 45 in Fig.8, behind which the letters A, 13,0 andDwill appear whenever hits have been made at the target in one of thecorresponding sectors or at the intermediate sectors. In order to showon the indicating board also the distance of the hits from the centerof'the target, five'other'windows have been provide'd' corresponding tothe five elements, center disc and four rings, whereof the target iscomposed, behind which windows one of the figures 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 willappear,

accordin as the corresponding element of of these letters and figures isshown in Figs.-

9 and lO.

a Theletters and figures which are to appear behind the windows of theindicating board are painted on light metal discs 9 each carried by theupright end of an 'angular lever (1 which is pivoted on pin 9 fast tothe back side of the board. Lever q is maintained in such a position bya catch :0 which projects from one end of a lever 72 pivoted at p, theother end of which carries an armature operated by an electromagnet 0.and is kept engaged with aprojecting edge of the lever by the pressureof a flat spring '2' fixed to the back side of the board.

hen there is no current in the electro-magnet, lever 77 will be in theposition descrlbed, but when a current in the electro-magnet causes itto attract the armature moving thereby. lever 12, the catch 29 will bereleased from its engagement with lever g. This lever will swing roundby the action of spring 1" and counter weight 9 until it comes to restagainst pin S provided on a sliding rod S and thereby will bring themetal disc q vbehind its corresponding window. By pushing said rod Sagainst lever 9 this lever will be brought again into its formerposition engaging again with its projecting edge the catch 72 but thiswill only be possible atter the interruption of the current in theelectro-magnet.

In Figs. 11 and 12 of the accompanying drawing diagrammatic views arerepresented of the electrical connections for working a self-indicatingtarget of five elements as shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 11 is a general view ofthe same and Fig. 12 a special arrangement for avoiding certainirregularities in the working of theindicating board and the contactapparatus. 0

As has beeirhereinbefore explained there are in a target of 5 elementsin all 17 contact pins distributed, 4: on each ring and one on thecenter disk, and on two axes ad and ?)-c set crosswise at 45, each beingfitted out for instance with a contact apparatus according to Fig. 3,where each apparatus is provided with two contact strips h and 72insulated from each other and insulated from the body of the target. Bymaking the electrical connections according to Fig. 11, the discs forall windows of the board may be operated for the hits on each elementand each sector of the target by employing only 9 electromagnetsaccording to Figs. 9 and 10, and 9 windows, whereas otherwise therewould be necessitated 33 electro-magnets and 33 windows, owing to thefact that for all hits except for those on the center dish two windowsand therefore also two electro-magnets ought to be employed.

I A represents the body of the target and V a source of electricity. aa", 14 and a rep resent the electro-magnets operating the window discsindicating the sectors, and t t 2*, t and t the olectromagnets operatingthe window discs indicating the elements of the target. In each contactapparatus the strip 12. is electrically connected with a conductorwhich, beginning with one strip, connects all four strips belonging-tothe same element of the target, and leads to one end of theelectro-magnet I, i t or t the other ends of which are connected to aconductor leading to the source of electric- .ity. All the strips 72 ofeach sector are electrically connected with a conductor leading to oneend of the electro magnets a, u", u and a,'the other ends of which areconnected to a conductor leading to the same pole of the source ofelectricity as has been connected with the other electro-magnets. Theother pole of said source of electricity being now connected with theiron body of the target which is in conducting connection with the pin 9of 'thependulum of the contact apparatus, it will be obvious, thatwherever the targetmay be hit it will be indicated by theelectro-magnets operating the discs for the corresponding windows insuch a waythat, for-instance, :tor a'hit in the sector'A and on thefirst element letter A and Figure 1 will appear in the correspondingwindows or for instance if the sector between A and B has been hit,letters A and B will appear together with the Figure l at thecorresponding windows.

It may now occur that, when a bullet has struck a certain partof thetarget, not only the contact-apparatus of the very same part of thetarget is made to work but also owing to a certain kind ofcounter-action, also the contact apparatus of the opposite part of thetarget. This fact would cause not only the appearance at a window of theletter belonging to the sector which has been hit,but also lot theopposite sector. To avoid this the electrical connections of theelectro-magnets operating the window discs of the sectors are madeaccording to Fig. 12, where the electrical current for energizing eachelectromagnet is passed through the angular lever g, catch p and lever39 of the electr omagnet of the opposite sector. The electric currentoperating the opposite electromagnet will.

therefore be broken at once, whenever an electro-magnet has beenoperated by a hit at the target and therefore only the one magnetcorresponding to the sector hit. will work, owing to the fact also thatit takes more time for bringing into'operation the counter-action of ahit to the opposite part of the target, than for breaking the circuit ofthe opposite electro-magnet.

I am aware that, prior to my invention, self-indicating targets havebeen made with electrical contact apparatus. 1 therefore do not claimsuch a combination broadly but what I do claim as my invention, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is: r

1'. In a device of the character described, a

frame, atarget, means foryieldingly mount ing tl'ietarget 1n the saidframe, a rod passsaid target, a cross arm fixed at the inner end of thesaid rod, an electric contact associated with the said cross arm, alever pivotally mounted at one end of the said cross arm, and a weightsecured to the opposite end of the said'lever, the said lever andweightbeing swung intoengagement in the said contact by a movement ofthe said rod to close an electric circuit.-

2'. In a device of the character described, a' tran1e,,a target, meansfor yieldingly mounting the target in the said frame, a rod passingthrough an aperture provided therefor in a wallet the said frame, meansfor yieldingly maintaining the said rod in position with oneend thereofin contact with the said target, a cross arm secured to the opposite endof the said rod,-a spring contact iixed in the said cross arm, a leverpivotally mounted at one end in the said cross arm, a weight attachedto' the opposite end of the said lever, and apin' secured in the saidlever,

the said lever and weight being actuated by the movement of the saidtarget to swing the said pin into engagement with the said springcontact to close an electric circuit.

3. In a device of the character described, a frame, a plurality oftarget members,

means for yieldingly mounting the said taratone end of each of the saidcross arms,

a contact secured in each cross arm and a .pm carried by each weightedlever, each weightedlever being actuated by a movement ofits rod toswing the. pin attached thereto into ei'igagement with its contact toclose an electric circuit thereat.

In testimony whereof I'have affixed my signature in presence of'twowitnesses.

' ARNOLD MICHOUD. i

Witnesses: V

Dalton. on Wrm'rnMBERG, LOUIS H. MUNIoo.

